RAIDS ON ITALIANS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22464, 7 July 1936, Page 9

RAIDS ON ITALIANS

ABYSSINIANS ACTIVE

MANY SOLDIERS KILLED

THOUSANDS OF ARRESTS

By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright CAIRO, July 5 Messages from Addis Ababa state that thousands of people have been arrested there as the result of concerted onslaughts upon Italian soldiers, some of whom had their throats cut at night, while others were attacked at the Akaki aerodrome as they struggled under wrecked tents.

Many of the prisoners were subsequently released because the gaols were already full. Some were employed on forced labour and others were given the opportunity of enlisting. It is believed that the Italians intend to enrol 15 battalions, totalling 45.000 men, in the course of the year. Their garrisons are mostly confined to the towns. They do not venture far into the interior. Only a few fugitive chiefs have surrendered. The Abyssinians claim to have killed an Italian captain and 70 soldiers at Gara Mulata, near Diredawa. Patriots of the western provinces declare that they will make a nation-wide effort in the worst week of the rainy season, hut the Italians consider that are fully occupied with banditry and intertribal raiding, particularly at Ankober and Ter Maber, although they admit that the complete pacification of the country may take some years. Regular aeroplane services have been suspended owing to the rains turning aerodromes into quagmires and interfering with visibility, necessitating the use of the Jibouti railway, for which the French demand payment in foreign exchange, refusing to actfept lire. HAILI SELASSIE RETURN TO LONDON (Beceived July 0, 5.45 p.m.) GENEVA. July 5 The Emperor Haili Selassie left Geneva for London to-day. He was given a cordial send-off.